Old dog teaches DOD new tricks: U-2 achieves first military flight with artificial intelligence Photo By Airman Luis Ruiz-Vazquez | A U-2 Dragon Lady assigned to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing takes off from the runway at.. read moreread more Photo By Airman Luis Ruiz-Vazquez | A U-2 Dragon Lady assigned to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing takes off from the runway at Beale Air Force Base, California, Dec. 15, 2020. This flight marks a major leap forward for national defense as artificial intelligence took flight aboard a military aircraft for the first time in the history Dept. of Defense. The AI algorithm, developed by Air Combat Command’s U-2 Federal Laboratory, trained the AI to execute specific in-flight tasks that would otherwise be done by the pilot. The flight was part of a specifically constructed scenario pitting the AI against another dynamic computer algorithm in order to pr